REEL
This is a camerawork reel, with footage and interviews from my own projects. I've kept this pretty simple, if interested in seeing more detailed scenework please contact me on my background page.
FEATURE DOCUMENTARY - IN PRODUCTION
This film is about the impact of ideology, culture, and partisan identity on environmental issues. The range of conservation issues affecting Alaska today include climate change, large scale mining, continued oil exploration and expansion, marine debris, the logging of old growth forest, the habitat destruction and bycatch excess of the factory trawl fleet, and the development of wild lands. Opinions and voting on these issues are shaped by an economy dependent on fossil fuels and resource extraction. This story is about a collision of values in the reddest of red states.
THE LAST FRONTIER
This is a very old film (2007) and not representative of my recent work, but it's about what's going on in the Bering Sea. Unfortunately, this story is still relevant today.
In 2005 roughly 75 percent of crab fishermen lost their jobs. The remainder pay 70 to 80 percent of the seasons gross profit to absentee quota holders. This project chronicles Catch Share programs and the fallout on individuals, communities and culture in Alaska.
Most fishermen in Alaska understand the need for conservation, but Catch Shares encourage fisheries dominated by large corporations and absentee owners. These programs threaten independent and family fishermen at the heart of coastal communities. In a Catch Share system rights to a percentage of the overall quota are privatized, then leased back to working fishermen at very expensive rates. This creates a new type of ownership by those who contribute nothing to the fishery and instead turn fishermen into modern day sharecroppers, an unnecessary and disturbing trend in reaching the proclaimed goal of conservation.
It's important to note that the Bering Sea king crab fishery featured in this film has essentially collapsed as of 2021. The opilio fishery is greatly diminished and will soon follow. Catch Shares did not save these fisheries.
This film goes beyond the sound bite to illustrate some of the complexities in fisheries management and raises questions about the society we're creating in the process.
POLITICAL ADS
There were holes in the 2018 campaign to defend salmon in Alaska, so I wrote and shot this ad on spec to address the primary disinformation attack from the opposition. This was the draft I submitted to a conservation organization and they finished with color grading and title effects. The ad touched a nerve and generated a lot of response.
This is another ad I shot on spec for the same organization. They finished with their logo and title effects.